UFC 145 winner Eddie Yagin: 'I'm like a wedding crasher – but not'

Setup fights can build momentum for the favorite, or they can give an underdog a huge boost.

UFC featherweight Eddie Yagin said he’s never been the guy that’s supposed to win, so he’s learned to relish his role as the spoiler.

“I’m like a wedding crasher – but not,” Yagin told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).

It didn’t take long for Yagin (16-5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), a former Tachi Palace Fights champ, to figure out he was supposed to provide Mark Hominick (20-11 MMA, 3-3 UFC) the kind of gentle return that would pave the way for another shot at the belt. Hominick had put up a good fight but lost to champ Jose Aldo, and then just months after the death of his longtime trainer, Shawn Tompkins, he had gotten knocked out by Chan Sung Jung in seven seconds.

With every loss inside the octagon, a top-tier fighter descends the division’s pecking order. With an 0-1 record in the UFC, Yagin was one of the last stops on the road to unemployment when they met at UFC 145, which took place this past Saturday at Philips Arena in Atlanta.

To Yagin, it presented a perfect opportunity to do what he’d done so many times since starting a professional career in MMA 10 years ago.

“To me, it felt like a setup,” Yagin said. “But hey, it set me up.”

Yagin dropped Hominick on two occasions and nearly put the Canadian fighter out in the first round. Hominick battled back late in the fight and busted Yagin’s nose. By the end of the fight, Hominick’s left eye was closing, and a huge hematoma blew up his left cheek.

Hominick out-landed Yagin in total strikes (53 percent to 33 percent) and significant strikes (52 percent to 30 percent), according to the UFC’s official statistics keeper, FightMetric.

Still, Yagin was confident he’d done more than enough to earn the nod. But when scores were read to indicate a split decision, he braced himself for the worst.

“The only reason I would understand (the fight was close) is because he was favored, and the blood made me look like I was tired,” he said. “Ooh.”

Two of three judges gave Yagin the fight by scores of 29-28, so he could rest easy.

“I couldn’t be any happier than how I am now,” he said.

Even if he hadn’t won, Yagin was fairly certain he’d be rewarded for his efforts.

“Coming into the third round when I was getting the audience riled up, I was thinking in my head, ‘This is going to be fight of the night,'” he said. “I already knew. I looked at Mark. He looked at me. We were both [expletive] up. We looked at each other like, ‘OK, don’t take me down, won’t take you down, just keep banging.'”

As it turned out, his prediction was correct. The UFC awarded both fighters an additional $65,000 bonus for “Fight of the Night.”

Now, the process of recovery takes first priority for Yagin. Asked whom he’d like to fight next, he said a meeting with Aldo would suit him fine.

Despite his win over Hominick, Yagin isn’t high enough on the pecking order to reasonably expect a fight with Aldo. But there are plenty of other featherweights who would welcome a standup fight.

Whomever he gets, Yagin has proven he’s no setup opponent.

“I just want to bang with the best,” he said. “If you want to bring a big crowd that’s going to enjoy the show, don’t bring in some wrestler that’s going to hold me down and not let loose because he doesn’t want me to scramble and get out. Get me a banger.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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